Computer Science Return on Investment

The return on investment (ROI) is an important factor to consider when selecting a degree and a university. The graph and calculations below show the return on investment for a computer science degree at Kansas State University. As computer science careers are one the best paid and fastest growing fields, it should not be a surprise that the return on investment is excellent, over 1,000%! Not only that, but the break even point is only 5 years after graduation!

To avoid "over-hype", we have used parameters for calculating the ROI that are conservative. While the average starting salary of a K-State CS graduate is $70,000, we use the US median salary of $103,560 per year, which comes from the Bureau of Labor for Software Developers (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm). We believe this number is conservative since it includes employees with and without actual computer science degrees and several recent graduates have earned starting salaries larger than that. The median high school graduate's salary is $37,336, which also comes from the Bureau of Labor. Based on these numbers, over a lifetime, a CS graduate can expect to year $2,980,000 more than a typical high school graduate. If you assume the entire cost of attendance over 4 years is financed and include student loan interest, the entire investment (cost of attendance, student load interest, and lost wages during school) is $251,173. Dividing the $2.9M salary gain by the investment cost of $251K gives a return on investment of over 1,000%!

Years to Graduation

4

Average K-State CS Starting Salary

$ 70,000

Median CS Salary (US)

$ 103,560

Median HS Graduate Salary (US)

$ 37,336

Profit (CS salary gain over HS degree)

$ 2,980,080

Student loan interest

$ 33,832

Investment (degree cost + interest + lost salary)

$ 251,173

Return on Investment

1073%

We use the cost attendance figures from the university (see https://www.k-state.edu/sfa/cost/undergraduate.html) as shown below. While the basic out-of-state cost is 60% higher than in-state costs, automatic scholarships for out-of-state students (based on qualifiecations, see https://www.k-state.edu/admissions/finaid/scholarships/freshmen/out-of-state/) can reduce that to only 13%. And that is before additional scholarships and grants have been applied.

Costs

Semester

Year

Tuition (average)

Kansas : $312.50 per hour

$ 4,688

$ 9,375

Out-of-state: $829.30 per hour

$ 12,440

$ 24,879

Engineering Fee ($99)

$ 520

$ 1,040

Other college's fees

$ 163

$ 326

Campus Fees (privilege/infrastructure)

$ 424

$ 847

Housing (residence halls)

$ 4,485

$ 8,970

Books and supplies

$ 450

$ 900

Miscellaneous

$ 2,000

$ 4,000

Total (Kansas)

$ 12,729

$ 25,457

Total (Out-of-state)

$ 20,481

$ 40,961

Return on investment (ROI) measures the gain or loss of investment relative to the amount of money invested. ROI is typically stated as a percentage and can be used for a variety of financial decisions. From an educational standpoint, the ROI is useful for determining the financial benefit expected to be gained from a specific degree at a specific university and can be used to compare different degrees or the same degree across multiple universities. While the financial impact of a degree is important, there are several other factors that should be considered when selecting a degree and a university. This information is provided as help in making these decisions and does not guarantee specific costs, salaries or returns.